Ode of Remembrance
"For the Fallen" is a poem by English poet Laurence Binyon, first published in 1914 during World War I. An except from the poem, usually referred to as the "Ode of Remembrance, is often recited as part of Remembrance Day and related ceremonies. For the Fallen With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free. Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal, Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. There is music in the midst of desolation, And a glory that shines upon her tears. They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; They sit no more at familiar tables at home; They have no lot in our labour of the daytime; They sleep beyond England's foam. But where our desires are and our hopes profound, Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight, To the innermost heart of their own land they are known, As the stars are known to the night. As the stars will be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain; As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain. History Binyon wrote For the Fallen, an elegy of seven stanzas, while sitting on the cliffs between Pentire Point and The Rumps in north Cornwall, England. A stone plaque was erected at the spot in 2001 to commemorate the fact. The plaque bears the inscription :For The Fallen :Composed on these cliffs 1914 The poem honoured the World War I British war dead of that time and in particular the British Expeditionary Force, which had by then already had high casualty rates on the developing Western Front. The poem was published when the Battle of the Marne was foremost in people's minds. "Titled; For the Fallen, the poem first appeared in The Times on September 21, 1914. It has now become known in Australia as the Ode of Remembrance, and the verses below are read at dawn services and other ANZAC tributes, claimed as a tribute to all casualties of war, regardless of state. :They went with songs to the battle, they were young. :''Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. :''They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, :''They fell with their faces to the foe. :''They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: :''Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. :''At the going down of the sun and in the morning, :''We will remember them. The line ''Lest we forget is sometimes added to the end of the ode, which is repeated in response by those listening, especially in Victoria, Australia. In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, the final line of the ode, "We will remember them", is repeated in response. In Canada, the extract of the poem has become known as the Act of Remembrance, and the final line is also repeated. The "Ode of Remembrance" is regularly recited at memorial services held on days commemorating World War I, such as ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day, and Remembrance Sunday. In Australia's Returned and Services Leagues, it is read out nightly at 6 p.m., followed by a minute's silence. In New Zealand it is part of the Dawn service at 6 a.m. Recitations of the "Ode of Remembrance" are often followed by a playing of the Last Post. In Canadian remembrance services, a French translation is often used along with or instead of the English ode. Musical settings Sir Edward Elgar set to music three of Binyon's poems ("The Fourth of August", "To Women", and "For the Fallen", published within the collection "The Winnowing Fan") as The Spirit of England, Op. 80, for tenor or soprano solo, chorus and orchestra (1917). His setting of "For the Fallen" sparked some controversy as it was published shortly after another setting of the same poem by the composer Cyril Rootham. Neither composer was responsible for this, and Elgar initially offered to withdraw but was persuaded to continue by the literary and art critic Sidney Colvin and by Binyon himself.Elgar studies. John Paul Edward Harper-Scott, Julian Rushton, p.225 "They shall grow not old..." was set to music by Douglas Guest in 1971, and has become a well-known feature of choral services on Remembrance Sunday. Nottingham-based composer Alex Patterson also wrote a setting of the text in 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V46q4AY3u0. The text of For the Fallen has also been set by Mark Blatchly for treble voices, organ and trumpet (which plays The Last Post in the background)"For the Fallen" by Mark Blatchly, recorded by St Paul's Cathedral Choir on Hyperion Records. Time of our Darkness, the title of a novel by South African author Stephen Gray, is a reference to the last two lines of For the Fallen: 'As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end they remain.' 'Condemn' or 'contemn'? There has been some debate as to whether the line “Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn” should end with the words ‘condemn’ or ‘contemn’. Contemn means to ‘despise’ therefore either word would make sense in the context of the stanza. When the poem was first printed in The Times on 21 September 1914 the word ‘condemn’ was used. This word was also used in the anthology The Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914 in which the poem was published later. If the original publication had contained a misprint Binyon would have had the chance to make amendments, so it seems unlikely that the word 'contemn' was meant. The issue of what word was meant seems only to have arisen in Australia, with little debate in other Commonwealth countries that mark Remembrance Day.Anzac Day - Traditions, Facts and Folklore: Words of Remembrance References External links * 5th Battalion RAR Association - Ode of Remembrance *''For the Fallen" text Category:British culture Category:Australian culture Category:New Zealand culture Category:Canadian culture Category:Military life Category:World War I poems Category:1914 poems Category:Works originally published in The Times Category:Text of poem